Construction has begun on the new East End light rail line at Harrisburg [Photo by Christof Spieler]

Christof Spieler

Light Rail Update

Construction has begun on the new East End light rail line at Harrisburg [Photo by Christof Spieler]

The new issue of Cite (77, Winter 2009) includes a brief update on Houston's light rail expansion. METRO plans 30 miles of new light rail in addition to the current 7.5 miles. In all, the system will have 64 stations, putting a significant part of Houston's urban core --- including Downtown, the Texas Medical Center, Greenway Plaza, Uptown, the University of Houston, Rice University, Texas Southern University, the University of St. Thomas, Midtown, the Near North Side, the East End, the Third Ward, Neartown, and Gulfton --- within walking distance of light rail. [Click on the map to see a larger copy.] Utility relocation has started on one line: the East End Line, which is locally funded by METRO's sales tax. Two other lines --- the Southeast Line and the North Line --- have gone through the federal planning process and are now eligible for funds under the federal stimulus bill (some of the funding will come automatically, but METRO will have to compete against other cities for the rest). Construction on those two lines is slated to begin this year. The University Line will also be federally funded, but it has not yet completed the federal process, so construction won't happen until 2010. The Uptown Line, which is locally funded, will start construction this year. All of these dates are behind METRO's original schedules, but METRO is still saying that the new lines will be open in 2012 as promised in the 2003 referendum. More is about to happen: On March 4, METRO board approved a design-build construction contract on four of the five lines this Tuesday, March 3. That contract includes new light rail vehicles -- based on ones operating in Seville, Spain -- to operate the new lines and relieve overcrowding on the Main Street Line. Those vehicles are a "critical path" item: they take as long to order, build, and test as the lines take to build. METRO already has authority to spend federal funds on them. As part of the first increment of the contract, the board authorized the full cost of the East End line, allowing more extensive construction to start soon. By any measure, the current Main Street Line has been a huge success. It's carrying 2/3 as many riders as Dallas's quite successful system on 1/6 as much track. The 2012 system is projected to carry 250,000 daily trips by 2030, as many as Boston's light rail system and twice as many as any modern system carries today. Boston has been growing around light rail for 100 years now; Houston is just starting. For the next few years, we'll see a lot of transit construction. But that will surely be followed by a lot more construction as the city adjusts to a different way of getting around, just as it adjusted to streetcars and highways and freeways in the past. (Click here for a more detailed analysis of the new contract on my blog about transportation.)

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1 Comment

  1. Metro’s New Light Rail lines « Mad To Be Saved writes:
    06.09.09
    3:41 pm

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